Mercury News: Sidewalk Talk: Bay Area volunteers listen, offer ‘human connection’ outside library, food bank
FREMONT — Everybody needs someone to talk to.
Fears, worries, hopes and dreams are part of the human experience, but finding someone to share those with can sometimes be difficult.
That’s where the Fremont listeners come in. Several times a month, a small group of volunteers station themselves at public gathering spots, equipped with folding camping chairs and open ears, ready to listen closely to others who need to talk.
It’s one of the latest local groups of volunteers to take up the mantle of Sidewalk Talk, a nonprofit founded in 2015 by two therapists in San Francisco, whose model has since spread to nearly 50 cities in 12 countries.
“We’re here to listen. We’re not here to proselytize, or sell anything,” the Rev. Barbara Meyers, who organizes the local group, said while sitting just outside the Fremont Main Library entrance.